This week so far has been most unexpected

This week was never going to be an ordinary week. 

Thursday and Friday are the American Thanksgiving holidays. To add to that, Monday to Wednesday were parent-teacher-student conferences. So the teachers aren't working till 9pm every night, the students had Monday and Tuesday afternoons off and all day Wednesday. The Tuesday was a public holiday (and the hairdresser's holiday), which had little bearing on us except that I couldn't go to the gym or get my hair cut. The younger two were scheduled to have a make-up swimming lesson, however, to compensate for the lesson they missed while the swim school moved to its new pool across the street from our house.

The landscape of the week changed not long after I turned the light out on Sunday night. My husband heard a bang, then a splash and a cough. What do you think? Yes, someone jumping down from a top bunk and rushing to the toilet to deposit his tea (dinner) in it. That was when I knew that at least the next day would be different to what was planned. 

Half-way through that night another son made that awful trip to the toilet and acquired a bucket to sleep with. So on Monday I took our youngest to school and hurried home to the other two. Half-way through the morning I made a rushed trip on my bike, in the rain, to get some lemonade. And then at lunch-time to fetch the other son back from school. Then spent all afternoon exhorting our middle son to drink. He wasn't so much in danger of gastro, as of dehydration. They were both dizzy and required instruction on how to get up and walk when you are dizzy. I never realised parenting would require me to teach that!

We went to bed that night not knowing what the next day would hold. 

Tuesday morning our middle son bounced into the room proclaiming he was well. Quite an amazing recovery.The last I'd seen of him, he was flushed, slightly disorientated and moaning frequently. Anyway, both he and his big brother made it to school along with their little brother and I had a couple of hours free. I dashed off to the shop to do some errands before they all descended on me again at 12. I had hardly found the first thing on my list when my phone rang. Yes, the youngest boy was in the Health Centre with a stomach ache. So, he came home and half an hour later threw up all over the dining room. Joy! I spent the afternoon exhorting him not to drink too much. But no, while cleaning his teeth before bed he threw up a large amount of lemonade.

Today I'd anticipated having all the boys home all day, with one exception, we'd scheduled parent-teacher-student conferences mid-morning with someone to keep an eye on them when their presence wasn't required. We'd organised it so that my teacher-husband could make part of each conference. But even that plan went awry. When the alarm went off this morning my husband informed he he'd been up with the bug a good portion of the night (I knew nothing about it). He wouldn't be going to work, so I turned the alarm off and rolled over. A couple of hours later when I finally wandered downstairs to see about breakfast, I found he and our 5 y.o. curled up in the "sick room", otherwise known as the lounge room.

So, I went to parent-teacher-student conferences without my husband and with only two students. Thankfully David was ambulatory enough to look after our youngest while I was gone. Tonight we were to have a guest for tea (dinner), but we've cancelled on that. No good being friendly and sharing our bug for them to take away for the long-weekend.

As the tally stands now, I am the only one who hasn't lain prostrate in the "sick room". I'm not booking a place either.

I'm also hoping that I won't have to make any more last minute mental adjustments to the rest of the week. Being a mum is so much about being flexible. I've come to realise that even though they are all at school, I am the family's release valve. The part of the family whose role is most flexible. And to keep our family functioning I also need to remain so.